Chapter Text
Ramil Bhuchongpisut was barely seven years old when he first experienced the harsh hit of his fathers palm.
The boy could count how many friends he had on one hand, and that included the servants in the castle, so it was natural that he got a little over-excited when his actual friend came to visit.
So when the Davichmethas came for some grown-up reason that little Ramil didn’t quite understand, he and Princess Ava very quickly found themselves getting bored. Ramil suggested that they both play together in his room, which his father agreed to with a flick of his hand and a roll of his eyes, barely even paying attention to the young prince.
“You don’t let me play with your toys, I don’t wanna sit and watch” Ava whined as she followed behind Ramil, waving at everyone as they passed, overly kind as always.
“You want to play with my favourite toys and that’s not fair, they’re my favourite toys and you can have the other ones” When they reached the staircase they should have followed to go up to Ramil’s room, the prince stopped. Ava tilted her head, giggling quietly when Ramil continued, “But shh, I wasn’t- it’s a lie, I wanna show you something super cool. Follow me but- shh”
Surprisingly, both young royals actually moved quite quietly through the castle, giggling every now and again until they made their way outside. Ramil grabbed Ava’s hand then, running together to the stable behind the castle.
“Ramil, why-”
“I got a pony for my birthday, isn’t that cool? Do you wanna see?”
Ava’s entire expression changed then, smiling wide and nodding at an almost concerning speed. Ramil clapped, excited to be showing his pony to a friend. He ran to grab a step-stool kept nearby that got him just high enough to reach the key on his tip-toes, unlocking the stable.
“Wait there, I’ll get her. She doesn’t have a name yet, she’s a little bit shy so maybe you shouldn’t go into her house”
Ava just nodded, standing oh so patiently until Ramil returned with a hand on the reins of his pony, bridle not quite on correctly but working enough to get her out of the stable. Ava squealed, running towards Ramil and the pony, who immediately stepped back, pulling young Ramil with her.
“Ow- Ava! I told you she’s shy, you’re moving too fast, shush!” Ramil whisper-shouted, grabbing hold of Ava’s hand again and slowly moving her towards the pony, “Put your hand here, look, like this”
Ava was so very quiet as Ramil held her hand towards the pony, letting her sniff for a second before Ramil placed Ava’s hand on the pony’s neck. Ava giggled again as she dropped her head, and Ramil just stood to the side, smiling. “I don’t know what to call her”
Ava hummed, thinking, stroking around the horse and gasping when she looked at the pony from the front,
“She has a little light strip, it looks like Pa’s suits” She smiled, running her hand down the lighter stripe and looking at Ramil, “Tie, because she looks like she’s wearing a tie!”
“Tie?” Ramil stood quiet for a second, thinking, before giggling and clapping his hands, “So, like- Oh! You’re so smart”
“I know”
The two of them stood talking, practically babbling to the pony - Tie - for a while, before Ramil looked at Ava again with his wide, cheeky smile.
“Do you want to ride her?”
Ava looked at Ramil a little hesitantly, shrugging before she replied, “Pa always told me at home that we need to have someone older when we ride the horses because something could go bad, I don’t think-”
“I’ve been riding the horses since i was six” Ramil cut in, already putting the stool beside Tie, “It’ll be okay, she’s good at letting people ride her, and I think she trusts you. I know how to help!”
Ava was still unsure when she stepped forward, holding Ramil’s hand as she stepped onto the stool, “Are you sure, Ramil? It’s a bit-”
“Stop being a baby and get on, I promise she’ll be okay. We won’t go fast, or far, just a little walk! Pleeease, don’t be boring” Ramil whined, pouting at Ava in a way that just made the girl sigh.
“Fine, help me up” Ava sighed, letting Ramil help her onto the pony as he smiled, mumbling about how sure he is that nothing can go wrong and how it’s just a little bit of fun away from the boring adults.
Everything was going fine for the first short while, Ramil walking beside Ava and Tie, the two talking about anything and everything that they could, enjoying the freedom and the time alone and ignoring the few drops of rain.
They were both perfectly happy, until the sky greyed and Ava gasped when the sky flashed, “Ramil, I think we should go back”
Ramil looked up in confusion, furrowing his brows, “Why? Do you not feel well?”
“No, but.. It might rain, and-” Ava was cut off by a sudden loud crash, yelping at the sound and covering her ears with her hands out of instinct. Ramil jumped back at the same time as Tie, who was spooked by the sudden storm.
“Ava, your hands- Ava!” Ramil immediately tried to hold back onto Tie, trying to calm her down as she just got louder and louder until she thrashed, the movement knocking Ramil down and throwing Ava to the ground at the same time.
The princess immediately burst into tears, immediately catching Ramil’s attention again as he scurried over. He scanned Ava, eyes widening at both the wound on her head from the collision with the floor, and the voices that came rushing closer and closer.
“Ramil, what is this?” The boy heard his father first, screaming at him as he approached, surrounded by guards and Ava’s father, who immediately rushed over to the princess.
“I didn’t- I was just showing her-”
“Up!” Rachata’s voice was almost as loud as the storm soaking everyone, his grip on Ramil’s arm unusually tight as he pulled the prince from the ground, pushing him towards two of the guards behind him. Ramil was too shocked to cry, because he had never seen or heard his father so angry. All the prince could do was shrink in on himself as he turned, face burning with a rage that made Ramil immediately look down.
“I’m sorry-”
“Take him to his room” Rachata wasn’t even speaking directly to Ramil anymore, couldn’t stand looking at the boy as he bowed his head slightly to Prince Chana and the guards carrying his daughter back inside. “Bring him when I say, I don’t want to see him”
The guards nodded, guiding Ramil inside, who just followed. He was too stunned, too overwhelmed to say otherwise.
When the Davichmethas left, it felt like Ramil only took one step into his father’s study before he was knocked to his knees. The hit was strong, the red mark on his cheek stung as tears slipped down his little cheeks immediately. He barely had time to think before another slap hit the other side of his face. Even as he yelped in pain, his father continued screaming. Shouting about how Ramil should’ve known better, how irresponsible he was, how he wasn’t even thinking about what would happen to his family if something serious happened to the princess in their care.
Ramil wasn’t really listening.
He couldn’t, too distracted by the mixture of pain and shock and guilt.
He didn’t remember much else from that day, but he remembers being walked back to his room. He remembers being unable to sleep properly from the pain that night, and remembers the nightmares he had for the following week. He remembers asking to see Ava a few weeks after the incident, and being hit again as if he should’ve assumed that the answer would be no. As if he was wrong for asking, when all he wanted to do was apologise for hurting the princess.
He remembers sobbing when his father punished him further by sending Tie away, kicking the young prince away when we fell to his knees and pulled on Rachata's clothes, anything in attempt to stop him from finishing his command to have the pony removed from the castle grounds. Ramil learnt later that, although he was told it was a request of the Davichmetha's, Prince Chana has requested nothing of the sort. Prince Chana had agreed to Ramil and Ava meeting to play again, for Ramil to apologise. But it was Prince Rachata who declined, Prince Rachata who hit his own son as punishment and sent away the horse he had barely spent time with and calling it 'consequences'.
Ramil was barely seven years old when he learnt that his father wasn’t like Ava’s father, he was barely seven years old when he learnt that doing bad things meant he was punished.
Ramil Bhuchongpisut was barely seven years old when he stopped really smiling.